OWEN SOUND – If Wednesday night’s contest proves the last game of major junior hockey at the Bayshore Centre this season, the Owen Sound Attack faithful are going to have one long, long summer.

What could have been? What the heck was that?

The Attack were trounced 5-2 by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in front of 2,549 fans, and seemed more focused on complaining than contemplating a comeback.

At the end of 60 minutes Owen Sound racked up 55 minutes in penalties leading to three power play goals.

“That’s not the way we want to play as an organization. We want to play with edge, but we crossed the line and gave a good team an opportunity on the power play,” assistant coach Jordan Hill said after the game. “I thought the refs lost control of the game to be honest with you, but the refs are the refs and you can’t control that part of the game.”

Owen Sound now heads north down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Jordan Sambrook opened the scoring at the eight-minute mark with the Greyhounds on the power play. The over-age defender floated a shot in from the point through traffic to beat Mack Guzda.

Minutes later the Soo perfected a three-on-two rush with Morgan Frost as the benefactor putting the Greyhounds up 2-0 with his second tally of the series.

With time winding down in the first period the hometown crowd got on their team’s case with a “Bronx cheer” for not directing the puck at Soo goaltender Matthew Villalta.

Brady Lyle seemed to get the message. The North Bay native put Owen Sound on the board with a wrist shot moments later.

In the second period the Attack played with a bit more urgency, but a Maksim Sushko interference penalty and subsequent Trent Bourque delay-of-game call put the Bears down two men. With all the extra room on the ice Barrett Hayton walked down to the hash marks and bounced a puck off Carter Robertson and by Guzda.

With the Attack still shorthanded, Adam McMaster poked a puck by the Soo defender and started a two-on-zero rush with Aidan Dudas. The two played catch leaving McMaster with an open net, but he misfired.

Mark Woolley then lined up Joe Carroll in the neutral zone and delivered a bone-crushing body check. The official called a charging penalty sending the Attack bench, coaches, and crowd into an uproar.

“When you don’t lift your skates, and you don’t take one stride, and you glide into a guy that has his head down . . . I’ve got to be careful here,” Hill said. “You can’t hit hard in this league anymore.”

He went on to level his comments.

“I understand why,” Hill said. “There are times where there are hits that should be called, but there has to be some onus on the player to control their body and keep their head up.”

Adding insult to injury, Sambrook scored his second goal of the game to put the ‘Hounds up 4-1 on the ensuing power play.

The Attack’s emotions boiled over as their season slipped further away. Cade Robinson took a 10-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for mouthing-off to the officials before Zach Poirier received a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for similar behaviour from the Owen Sound bench.

“I just made a comment about how the hits have been the same, and he’s calling some, but not the others. But that’s just the game, the refs don’t see everything,” said Poirier.

The second intermission did little to cool any heads.

Frost’s second marker of the contest came just 28 seconds into the third period putting the Greyhounds up 5-1.

Maksim Sushko then took a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for slew footing. Owen Sound killed off the penalty, but next Kaleb Pearson and Cole MacKay were were sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties after Pearson bumped into Villalta.

Sushko’s slew foot will likely lead to a suspension pending league review, according to Hill.

The on-ice antics carried over onto the benches as Attack head coach Alan Letang and Greyhounds’ bench boss John Dean shouted at each other. The pair even moved down from behind the players and leaned across to divider in an effort to better communicate their grievances.

While the teams played four-on-four the Soo mixed up a line change after a broken stick and gave the Attack a four-on-three power play opportunity. Owen Sound worked the puck around the zone before finding Sergey Popov open in the slot. He ripped it by Villalta giving the Attack their second goal of the night.

The goal didn’t spark a comeback. It furthered the Attack’s implosion.

Daylon Groulx got two minutes for diving after falling to the ice and holding his face waiting for a call. He got one, just not the one he wanted. Brady Lyle got 10-minutes and an early shower for his protest.

“I will agree with the refs on that one. That was a disappointment as an organization. We don’t condone diving . . . he got hit, but he didn’t need to flail like that,” Hill said.

Guzda stopped 20 of 25 shots while Villalta got in front of 24 of the Attack’s 26 attempts at the net.

The team’s will head back on the buses for Game 5 in Sault Ste. Marie Friday. Puck drop inside the GFL Memorial Gardens is set for 7:07 p.m.

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